and when deflated served as a waterproof blanket to allow the users to camp on wet ground. The Admiralty was sceptical about potential uses for Halkett's designs; on 8 May 1845 Lord Herbert, First Secretary to the Admiralty wrote to Halkett that "My Lords are of an opinion that your invention is extremely clever and ingenious, and that it might be useful in Exploring and Surveying Expeditions, but they do not consider that it would be made applicable for general purposes in the Naval Service". Although the Admiralty saw no use to which Halkett's designs could be put in general naval service, this larger design was extremely well received by explorers. John Franklin bought one to take on the ill-fated 1845 expedition in which the entire expedition party of 129 men and two ships vanished. Franklin saw Halkett boats as so essential to travel in Canada that he gave the boat intended for his expedition to Sir George Simpson, Governor-in-Chief of Rupert's Land, for use in his travels in the region. He ordered a replacement boat from Halkett, who delivered it in time for him to take possession before setting out on his last expedition. Orkneyman John Rae, known by the Inuit as (, "He who takes long strides"), was a Hudson's Bay Company surgeon who became a surveyor of the Canadian Arctic. Unlike most Europeans of the period, Rae believed that the local inhabitants knew best how to cope with extreme weather conditions. He travelled Inuit-style, using sledges and snowshoes and sleeping in snow igloos. Rae took a Halkett boat on his first expedition in 1846, reporting that it was "most useful in crossing and recrossing the river at Repulse Bay", and that "although in constant use for upwards of six weeks on a rocky coast it never required the slightest repair" and "ought to form part of the equipment of every expedition". Keen to find out what had become of the ships and men of Franklin's expedition, in 1848 the Royal Navy sent a search party led by John Richardson and John Rae, and equipped with a Halkett boat provided by the government, to search for the lost expedition. The party was unable to locate Franklin, but found the Halkett boat invaluable, on one occasion using the single boat to ferry their entire party across a river in 14 trips. Rae noted that although the rubber of the